Side by side
ChordIQ vs music21
Both stand on music theory software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan AndroidiPhoneMac+1
ChordIQ combines reading, ear, rhythm, singing, and theory practice in game formats across three platforms. Check the store for Pro pricing and whether a trial is offered in your location.
Visit ChordIQ Free plan LinuxMacWeb+1
Choose music21 if you want a free Python toolkit for analyzing, teaching, editing, or composing with symbolic music data. Its corpus and optional integrations support a range of musicology and notation tasks. Look elsewhere if you need to work directly from audio waveforms or read notation from images or PDFs.
Visit music21The facts
| ChordIQ | music21 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Android, iPhone, Mac, Web | Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | songtive.com | music21.org |
| On music theory software | #1 of 27 | #4 of 27 |
ChordIQ: what it does well
- More than 30 game modes cover varied music skills.
- Supports four instruments and MIDI keyboards.
- Live cents meter scores sung or played pitches.
- Free browser games are available without an account.
What to know first
- Free modes include ads between rounds.
- Pro prices vary by country.
- Some MIDI connections require wired, Bluetooth, or USB OTG setups.
music21: what it does well
- Free BSD-licensed toolkit.
- Includes a corpus of thousands of encoded musical works.
- Supports MIDI and MusicXML.
- Provides corpus search, pitch plotting, and nPVI analysis.
- Can be used in web-based Jupyter Notebook.
What to know first
- Requires some familiarity with Python.
- Primarily handles symbolic music data rather than sound waves.
- Cannot read notation directly from images or PDFs.
- Some corpus works may have separate commercial-use or other restrictions.
Alternatives to ChordIQ Alternatives to music21 The whole list